After Lunch - Joe Ganci

Have to love free food (well sorta free, but considering my budget....)

Joe Ganci's Presentation on the 10 Steps to Successfully Execute your E-Learning Project is my next session. You may remember him from back in the day with Authorware.

Step #1 - Decide when e-learning is right - we have talked a lot about this in some of the courses in the TRDV program. Is it really the right time to implement e-learning for this particular subject.

Step #2 - Select the best model - ADDIE was discussed, but really wasn't promoted as the best absolute way. The co-presenter (Adrianna) broke this down into two categories - process and design model. Really, focusing on what resources and processes work for you in the project is the first step. Next in the thought process is which design model, which is a guideline on how to help the learner learn. Introduced as well were the star legacy model and a model by David Merrill (I will need to look these up and post later). Really the key is being able to pick the right model for the right situation.

Step #3 - Identify the development tools - this is a critical step - you cannot force your design into a predetermined design tool. You may want to look at a combined approach. No authoring tool is perfect and will not meet every need of every project. Support is also something to consider - if there is not both technical and user forum support (which means it's accepted by the authoring community) then maybe it isn't the right choice to spend your resources on. It also must be able to be supported by the end user (i.e. users will need to be able to use flash, but what if the IT department doesn't allow it?).

Step #4 - Content, Layout, and Cognitive Approach - this explores a lot of the concepts we are currently working on for our current module - what principles (multimedia, modality, redundancy, coherence, etc) are you going to follow when designing the content? Should you look at the background color, image placement, text size and color(um....yes)?

Step #5 - List your resources - who is going to help you accomplish this project. While in reality we may end up as one person TRDV departments there are other than can help you? How much time and bandwidth can you consume? Is there management support? Are there individuals that can act as liaisons to the SME's that can help you? Can your people use the tool you have chosen to develop this project?

Step #6 - Schedule an Alignment Meeting - You should probably have a pulse check before you get to far, right? This is also a critical step in order to get everyone on the same page. How many of us can relate to what happens when this step is ignored? Do the SME's. Graphic Designers, Developers, and other parties agree on the direction each other is going in?

Step #7 - Create a Project Plan - so you can give it to others - so you can schedule resources (cameras, sme's time) and to make sure everyone is aware of milestones and the total timeline.

Step #8 - Develop and Review - When should you decide how the project should look? You probably shouldn't begin the project until a global design decision has been reached.

Tip!!! Ganci found a trick with rollovers if you rt click on the rollover in Captivate you can make it non rectangular so that you can create customized sized and shaped rollovers - Ganci is one of the premier trainers for Captivate and when he took this back to the Captivate development team, they didn't realize it was there and it isn't in any of the books.

Continuing on, Storyboards and design plans are next, and equally important. These should be agreed upon and signed off before continuing.

Step #9 - Roll out the Project - Test early and test often - cannot personally stress this enough. I'm still finding little errors in things I haven't tested throughly when I started designing. Also it gives you a chance to test the environment and bring in all the involved parties that you will need to make this project happen.

Step #10 - Evaluate the Results - Before you begin, determine if you are to perform ROI and get mgt/stakeholders to agree on the answer. Then figure out how you are going to make that happen (data collection, etc). What are your measureables and objectives?

It seems like a lot of this is common sense especially when looking at it from an academic stance. We know that these things are important because we studied them. Then why are there at least 50 people in this session? What do you think?